Columns

While most people are at staying close to home due to shelter -in-place orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, sanitation workers are still out in the field providing essential services such as garbage, recycling and organics pick-up. All curbside collection services in Sonoma County continue to operate normally, although temporary routing changes may result in drivers arriving earlier or later than usual.

A modest proposal

I am grateful the governor has pushed back in-school openings. And, I am grateful schools are examining alternative forms of learning. But, in the many plans and proposals I have read about how to return children to the classroom, I have yet to see any mention of increasing teacher or school staff pay, or adding more staff.

This newspaper publisher has long been predisposed to remind his readers that there is no such thing as a free press. It takes money, lots of it, to hire dedicated journalists and buy newsprint, ink and computers to produce news. It cost Sonoma West Publishers just over $1.2 million last year to provide a steady stream of vital and reliable news for the four communities we serve in north and west Sonoma County. And, even with all that, we still lost almost $200,000 at the end of the year. Now, during the pandemic-caused economic shutdown, our financial challenge looks nearly impossible some days. But that’s another story for another day.

Summer is here, a time of harvest and abundance, and Sonoma County truly shines during this season. Go to any open-air farmers market, and beautiful fruits and vegetables abound, in all their color, freshness and glory. 

EDITOR: During his campaign four years ago, Trump claimed that he could shoot someone in Times Square and still get elected.  Today Trump is killing thousands of people, not by shooting a gun, but by shooting off his mouth.

One day, when I lived in Poland in the early 90s, I was detained by a police officer who pulled me over in the Tatra Mountains for some minor traffic violation. In getting my driver’s license and registration, he decided I needed to be breath tested at the police station. Puzzled, I went along in the back of the police car, tested 0.00 alcohol content, and the entire staff at the station apologized profusely as we got to talking. 

Our lengthening public health crisis will not end until a vaccine is developed and made available to the masses and our pandemic-caused economic recession will not be curtailed without trillions of federal funding for state and local governments, unemployed workers and for small businesses. Everything else is up to us. We can do more than just watch the daily coronavirus test results or just move some restaurant tables onto the sidewalks or close a few streets. 

Editor's Note: This column is from one of the Times' sister publications, Sonoma West Times & News. We thought our readers would be interested in columnist Bob Jones' recollection of the events in Montgomery. 

As Healdsburg continues to tread forward in the era of COVID-19 and the dialogue of racial injustice weighs heavily in our hearts and minds, our community still faces tension and uncertainty when it comes to reopening our schools, supporting our downtown plaza, housing and food insecurity, health and the protection of our city from fires. I look forward to serving our residents and the city of Healdsburg to make sure that we meet these challenges head-on.